Episode 32: A Brief History of Humankind?
In a matter of mere seconds, the balance of power in the galaxy shifted. The mysterious Xerobim were repulsed, and now it the chance had come for the forces of Earth and Eden to prepare for its offensive.
If war was like a symphony, then this particular opus was entering its final stanza; a fact not lost to anyone with a mind towards the art of combat. Whether it boded the destruction of two races, or the final defeat of the race that held sentinel over the galaxy was all that was left to be determined…
Offices of the Advisor, New Richmond
Talor and Kiron did not seem at all convinced that Aelan could possibly manage to defeat the Xerobim. It didn't matter HOW smart a man was, there was simply no way that he would be able to counteract the obvious advantage his enemy had.
"Son… it simply isn't possible. Sure, I can repulse the control of the Xerobim from a skeleton crew on the Serenity, but not a fleet the size that you would need to defeat the Xerobim." Talor objected.
"That's fine… all we will need is the Serenity and the North Am Elite Unit." Aelan replied, with that smirk that Kiron swore Aelan had patented.
Talor leaned over to Kiron, and asked, "Aelan HAS to know something we don't."
Kiron frowned, and answered wryly, "That seems to be a recurring theme around here. You get used to it after a while."
The three entered the side offices, where an assembly of the top floor of the advisor office waited. Heero leaned against the closed windows in the corner, Relena next to him, her arm curled around his waist, and his hand resting on her now rather… expansive… abdomen.
Trowa and Quatre were seated at two of the computer terminals, heads down as if engaged in a mental chess match. Wufei was sitting cross-legged near the doorway to Noin's office. Noin meanwhile, was standing on one side of the door, Miliardo on the other, occasionally glancing at each other. Duo stood on his hands, oddly enough, while Hilde spotted him, nonetheless looking at him with an equally odd expression. All of them jerked a little bit at Talor's presence, but quickly got over it. They had grown accustomed enough to Talor's true form in the last few days that it didn't nearly effect them as it did at first.
"Duo, may you please return your existential form to a properly vertical position please?" Aelan ordered, and as the American complied, he said, "Many of you have expressed concern as to us being able to attack the Xerobim effectively."
Talor snorted, and answered, "Yeah… that is JUST a MINOR issue…"
"We have the means to do so right in our grasp." Aelan continued, ignoring his father, "Over these last months, I've been piecing together key facts about the Xerobim unwittingly, and have just now been able to solve the puzzle."
Aelan turned to Talor, and with a triumphant grin replied, "For example, I've realized that the Xerobim cannot control a being utilizing the Eternal technology."
Talor's face went pale, and faced with several querying glances, admitted, "Yes… one of the factors that made the Edenites so dangerous in the first place is that we couldn't take control of their armed forces because of the technology that had been implanted into their bodies... The flood of hormones and chemicals caused their brains to be so altered to begin with that there was little we could do with them… I'm just curious how you figured that out…"
Aelan's smile didn't disappear, "Well, the major clue was when you explained how Ventrali was under your control. That control seemed to disappear when he activated the Eternal System preparing to combat the Elite Unit. As a matter of fact, you had to destroy him BECAUSE you had lost all control over him."
Talor grimaced, and nodded in affirmation, "I fail to see how that information, as significant as it is, helps though."
"Quite simple, the North Am Elite Unit will use that technology in the next encounter to its fullest."
Talor nearly jumped through the ceiling, and was quick the protest Aelan's suggestion. And even though the North Am pilots didn't react, it touched off a small part of many of their brains…
"Son… listen to me… I'll tell you the only reason why you are able to use the Eternal System on your suit at all. The Xerobim are known for their incredible resiliency and adaptability, traits that you have obviously inherited. To ask them to use that sort of technology could get EVERYONE killed."
"Oh, they already have…" Kiron smirked.
"Yes, I heard about Admiral Noin. There are any number of possibilities as to why that was. Noin herself can attest that she doesn't represent the average pilot in any means."
Kiron chuckled, and answered, "No… listen to me. All of these pilots have used the Eternal System already."
There was another round of quizzical stares, this time directed towards Kiron. After a momentary silence, Kiron announced, "Before the Second Battle of Eden, Aelan and I installed the Eternal System into all your Gundams. He had decided it was the only way that we would be victorious."
Expecting a cacophony of denials and shouts, Kiron was pleasantly surprised to see the exact opposite, thoughtful reticence.
Strangely enough, it was Wufei who broke the silence, commenting, "I knew I seemed a little more agitated than usual when I climbed into Nataku for that battle."
Talor slapped his forehead, "Of course! That would be the only conclusion, the only possible way that three suits would be able to last long enough to be effective. I should have realized it…"
He suddenly grew grim. It wasn't like his son to take a risk like that. The fact that Admiral Noin had successfully used the Eternal Technology wouldn't have been enough for Aelan to make such a brash move as to install it in every other mobile suit.
"There is something you aren't telling us." Talor accused, "What else do you know?"
Aelan smiled ruefully, and replied, "Hark, none knows one's offspring better than the bearer of said offspring. You are right, there was something else I discovered to help me reach my conclusion."
From his back pocket, he pulled out a small data pad, and waved it in front of everyone. Instantly, everyone recognized it. All of them had seen Aelan perusing the material.
"You know what this is, right, Kiron?" Aelan asked.
Kiron nodded, and remarked, "Yes, that's the downloaded data off of General Calnus's ship." All of a sudden, he remembered to a time not long before, a question that Aelan had asked. At the time, it had thrown him off guard, now it all cascaded down onto him. "Aelan… you can't possibly be serious…"
"You've always pondered why humans and Edenites were so genetically similar." Aelan was quick to retort.
Quickly feeling out the loop of information, Noin asked, "What are you two prattling on about?"
Kiron inhaled deeply, and replied, "The Carean Populous…"
That didn't help Noin any, fortunately Kiron followed up his statement with an explanation. "It's more of a legend than fact really, almost all of the records from that time period was destroyed during Eden's New Age, and most of what survived was very suspect. As a matter of fact, probably the only reliable information from before 300,000 years ago I personally had, and what was downloaded from Calnus's vessel."
Aelan's eyes scanned the material once again, and he stepped in, "Regardless, BOTH texts speak, albeit vaguely, about this particular topic. As the story goes, over 2 million years ago, scientists from the Carean Clan… yes, the same clan that Calnus was the general of… supposedly managed to create a race of primitive Edenites. The plan was for them to serve as an almost infinite supply of soldiers for the ever constant wars the Edenites engaged in all throughout the galaxy."
Kiron then picked up as if the pair had rehearsed the entire lecture, "According to the VERY SUSPECT texts, these beings were naturally designed with heightened hormonal and chemical states that were often present in Eden's augmented soldiers. "
Once again, Aelan began to talk as Kiron stopped, "As if all that wasn't intriguing enough, this is where the story REALLY starts to get interesting. The Carean Populous was sent by spaceship to a battle on the other side of the galaxy. The transport entered a fold from Eden, but never emerged out the other end. The fate of the populous has remained a mystery ever since."
Milardo smirked, then stated the obvious, "You think that we ARE the Carean Populous, I take it."
Aelan waved a finger, "I won't go quite that far, but when I found the same story in both records that Kiron and Calnus had, it did warrant some further investigation. I can be certain that the Carean Populous was what Calnus was searching for, but whether or not he felt he found it, I don't think we'll ever know."
Talor spoke again, his voice reflecting deep thought, "It would be only rational to assume that Calnus tried to examine all the potential places that the populous could have emerged, and retreated to. And since he wouldn't just be able to fold to those places, he would have had to travel through more conventional means… explaining why he was in stasis…"
Heero interrupted rather rudely, but such was his way, "I don't mean to cut in on such an enlightening exchange of conjecture and theory, but I do believe that we have a much more pressing issue at hand. Regardless of our heritage, it has been established that we CAN use the Eternal Technology. So, Aelan if you have a strategy to overcome the Xerobim, let's hear it now…"
That night…
As Duo pulled the covers back of his bed when he felt a tap on his shoulder. With a seductive smile, he closed his eyes, turned and wrapped his visitor in a warm embrace, his lips descending in a kiss. A mere instant later, Duo froze, afraid to open his eyes. Either Hilde had really been working out as of… oh… YESTERDAY… or there was somebody in Duo's arms that he didn't want to be there…
Finally gathering the courage to open his eyes, he immediately was looking into Heero's death glare. "Oh shit… I am so dead…" Duo moaned.
"Will you let go of me before Hilde sees you?" Heero demanded.
Duo jumped back a little too far, falling over the bed in the progress, flailing out, and throwing his nightshirt up around his chest. Heero shut his eyes, trying to block out the picture, "That's even worse…don't you wear underwear?"
Duo sat up, recollecting his sleepwear in the process. "What do you want anyway… can't you tell I was getting in the mood?"
"I need to borrow your cross." Heero replied.
"What for?"
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't ask any further questions. Just let me borrow it."
Duo scratched his head. In a matter of moments, Hilde was going to walk through that door, and she would probably be wondering what Heero was doing here. Pulling the chain and ornament over his head, he tossed it to Heero, and hissed, "All right… here, just get out of here before Hilde sees you!"
Now that his mission in Duo's room was complete, Heero slid out of the bedroom as silently as he had entered, and just in time for not even 5 seconds later Hilde emerged from the bathroom in a very sexy piece of cloth that seemed to pass as lingerie.
She strode up to Duo, and ran a finger down his chest while he tried to breathe straight. Suddenly, her face drew into a curious expression, and she asked, "What happened to your cross?"
Duo threw his head back and muttered, "Damn…"
The cross in question was in a place that one would expect to find crosses… a church. It wasn't one of the fancy cathedrals that one found in New Richmond, Heero actually found those over-indulgent. This particular chapel was barely more than a small room on the outskirts of the city, with nothing more than plastic chairs where the congregation would normally sit. It didn't even lock the doors at night, which was quite a blessing in this case.
There was silence for several minutes as Heero reflected, when Aelan's voice suddenly spoke from behind him, "I never pictured you as a religious man, Heero Yuy."
The pilot stood from his kneeling position, and replied, "I wasn't, but after my time I spent in that prison you call Hell, something changed. I saw a lot of things differently. It's been a constant development since. Not even I fully understand it."
Aelan nodded knowingly, looking up at the stained glass windows above the pulpit, "All of you Gundam pilots have changed greatly since I first met you."
For the first time that Aelan could remember, Heero actually appeared embarrased to say something, finally spitting out, "Do you believe in God, Aelan?"
The Advisor paused, before sighing, "Such a simple question, yet such a difficult answer. I have come to believe in a higher power, but I'm not totally convinced that I believe in the God that most humankind believes in. I have heard all about the manipulations that the faiths have done to their own beliefs, not to mention those who DON'T believe what they do. Reinterpreting beliefs, editing their scriptures, even totally omitting things they don't agree with. I think that in the desire to make God in their own image, that the truth of the higher power has been tainted, if not lost."
"Don't you think that the higher power would stop that from happening?" Heero queried. It wasn't often that one got Aelan to speak so freely on such things, and Heero wanted to keep the current trend going.
"I don't know… maybe he, she… it… HAS, and we just aren't looking in the right place. I used to think I knew all about these sort of things, but I have reached the conclusion that I am just as lost as everyone, looking for answers that I might never find, but am driven to search for nonetheless."
Heero smirked, "Just as your impact has changed us, I can't help but think that our exposure to you has changed you."
"To that fact, you would hear no arguments…"
Aelan seemed convinced that his plan would work. Talor wasn't so sure, however. The concept of defeating a force that numbered in the trillions with nothing more than nine mobile suits and one Edenite battleship was simply too farfetched.
"My son is simply assuming too much." Talor whispered to himself as he activated a comm-channel, broadcasting to deep space. When the connection was made, Talor quickly started before the conclave could begin. "I have come to discuss terms of my surrender."
The head of the conclave seemed curious, and commented, "What terms?"
"You allow me to rescue my son, and I will tell you Earth's battle plans against you." Talor said simply, "And before you decide to brush me off, do remember that all it took was a small strike force to incapacitate one of your worldships. They could have destroyed it just as easily."
There was silence as the conclave pondered the issue, its positives and negatives, before finally replying, "Very well… this is where you will find us. We will be expecting you."
Next time…
It all comes down to this moment… in what everyone acknowledges will be the true final battle, anything that happens from that point on will be merely details. Different views will converge, fears and realities will be laid open in the conclusion of this epic saga.
Coming in Episode 33: First Contact